Mother Dearest
by Lady Halloween
Summary: The terrible trio are assigned a seemingly sweet caretaker, but everything is not what it seems. Will the trick or treaters come out on top, or will mother not-so-dearest bring the three down to their knees? ABSOLUTELY NOT LockxShock! Rated for language.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter one: This means war!

"No no no no no NO!" Yelled a frantic, squirming Lock, as he was shoved into Town Hall along with Shock and Barrel. Despite his escape efforts, Jack was taking special care to keep him in line. Once the trio was safely inside and the door was sealed, Jack glanced at each of the wild, hysterical, potentially homicidal children, sighed, and let out his most terrifying, ear-splitting scream he could manage. Once he finished his scream, and regained his elegant composure, all six little eyes in the room where on him.

"Now, you three have been running amok long enough! You need discipline and order!" declared Jack with a scowl. "And I have personally tracked down just who to help you with that."

"NO! We don't need some old moron ordering us around!" shouted Lock.

"We can take care of ourselves!" added Shock with a sneer.

"So let us go!" finished Barrel.

Jack sighed again and clutched at his skull, fighting the urge to run off. However, he mustered the self control to stay put, and said simply,

"Well children, meet your new mother", motioning toward the back of Town Hall. Out of the darkness of the back row of seats, emerged a woman. She was thin, and had a sharp, but with pleasant face. Her hair reached her hips, and she wore a kind smile. However, the trio took no mind of any of this, for they were focused on her most prominent feature. The fact that she was completely composed of sewing needles, from her hair, to her face, to her "clothes". Except of course, her eyes, which were two black buttons.

"What," began Lock.

"The heck," added Shock.

"Is that?" yelled Barrel.

"Don't be rude you three brats! You will accept this women into your home, or you will be put in an orphanage!" Yelled Jack with a scowl that could break a stone to pieces.

"Jack, really, when have we ever been welcoming or respectful?" sneered Shock with her arms crossed. "We are not living with her, and we are NOT being shipped to live in some rat-hole orphanage! You can't force us!"

"You have no choice!"

"Now, now," the needle woman finally spoke, in a voice that would make the supreme overlord of Sweetland say, "Wow, THAT is sweet!" "quite fighting, trust me, you three are going to be very happy with me!"

"NO!" the trio shouted at the same time.

"Oh my dears, Jack is right! You have no choice." And with a small twitch in her smile, she grabbed a tuft of each of their hair, and dragged them, with unbelievable steadiness and strength, out the door of the building. Jack merely sat down, glad to have them out of his way for a while, never suspecting any trouble.

As they were thrown into their home through the tub entrance, Lock groaned, Shock screeched, and Barrel said, "Ow! Ok ok, you win!"

But the woman was different. Her fists were clenched, her face was contorted into an ugly frown, and her voice was raspy and mad.

"I don't need to hear that little shits!" she screeched, "I am staying here in this little dump for as long as I want, and you little creeps are my servants! Unless, of course," She said with a smirk, "you want to meet my needles." She pinched Lock's cheek with her needle fingers just enough to make a small wound, and squeeze a few drops of blood out.

"WHAT!" He yelled, swatting her hand away. "GET OUT OF OUR HOUSE, NOW!"

"You will respect me, brat!" She cried, smacking him across the face, leaving four deep scratches. Shock and Barrel gasped and dragged a heavily bleeding Lock down the hall, as the needle woman laughed sickeningly. They all piled inside Lock's room and tried to comprehend what just happened. Lock wiped the warm blood of his cheek, looked and his red-stained hand, and growled. "This, means, WAR!"


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own The Nightmare Before Christmas, I merely worship it , and not cause' I am a dork, but because it is freaking fantastic, and if you say otherwise, I will choke you, and cut you into little pieces, and eat you. MUAHAHAHAHA!

Chapter two: Mother?

"War? She's murderous, strong as hell, and if we rat her out to Jack, he'll never believe us! What war you idiot!" Shock whispered, smacking Lock on the good side of his head in her frustration.

"That freak is gonna kill you if you mess with her!" Barrel hissed, a look on his face like he was about to throw up.

"You think I don't know that? We gotta-" but he was cut short by a small "Hem hem" from the doorway. The trio looked over, expecting some other shocking act of cruelty.

"If you three urchins are done with your tea-party, this crap-hole needs to be cleaned!" demanded the woman, a mix between a frown and a smug grin on her face.

The trio nearly gasped at this horrible demand, not being able to even imagine such a thing! Their roaches chased away? Their beloved dust swept up and thrown to the wind? Not in a million-billion-zillion years had the thought of cleaning the tree-house ever crossed their minds. It would be a crime against everything they ever stood for!

They stood there with wide-open mouths and even wider eyes, resembling three, pale, costume-clad cod fishes.

"Well?" She said, clicking together her fingers.

"Well what? We are NOT going to clean! That sort of unspeakable torture is reserved for the deepest, darkest, most horrible pits of hell." Inquired Shock, truly and sincerely meaning every word she spoke.

"Welcome to hell." She offered, strode over to Shock in the blink of an eye, and dug her index finger deep into Shock's cheek. Shock cried out , feeling more and more pain as the needle in her cheek quickly dug deeper down, curved, popped out through her mouth like a fishhook, and began to thrash about, scratching and cutting with each movement, no matter how small.

"Now then!" She began, turning to Lock and Barrel, raising her voice as to be heard over Shock's yelling, adding to the essence of insanity about her. "Now do you want to clean?"

"Y-y-yes yes! Fine! We'll clean!" Stuttered Lock.

"Just let her go!" said Barrel, frozen to the spot.

She laughed wickedly, even for Halloween standards, and unhooked Shock. The little witch collapsed onto the floor, whimpering quietly.

Within 15 minutes, the trio were on their knees, scrubbing away at the endless dirt and dust that coated their home.

"How the hell did this place accumulate so much of this, crap?" inquired Barrel, working hard on cleaning a stain, which was much larger than he was. Shock merely grunted half heartedly, swallowing blood as she sucked it out of her cheek. Lock however, was troubled.

In his ten years of afterlife, he never took any shit from anyone, much less a "mother".

However, there was something about that woman, something evil, that seemed to creep up on him, and take a vice grip on his mind and heart. He thought back to a few years ago, when he was working for the biggest, baddest guy in Halloween, the Oogie Boogie man. But no, it was still, different. With Oogie, it was fun. They could plays tricks and make trouble all day long, plus be rewarded with sugary treats and shelter. Of course, they always did fear him a bit, but as long as they followed orders, everything would be all right. Lock cringed a bit, thinking back to the time they forgot to feed him his daily bugs. That earned the trio two days chained by their ankles to the roof of Oogie's casino.

He looked at Barrel, who was pouting.

He looked at Shock, who was scrubbing so furiously, you would have thought the stain poked a hole through her cheek.

He glanced over to the woman. She was staring at him cruelly.

There was something so odd about, her eyes, her evil smile, the way she sits. It's almost, familiar.

Almost.

Could it be?

No, never...never...

Lock shook the idea of, and muttered to himself, "That crazy bitch"

He sensed something, and looked up.

There she stood, and after a few awkward seconds merely said, "You will refer to me as 'Mother'. "

"Mother?"

"What, your not just stupid, but also deaf now?" said Mother, and flashed her fingers in his face, letting them prick the bridge of his nose a bit.

Lock pulled his face back, and it happened to him again. I was odd, like a want, an urge, a need to give up! It took him over, and finally...

He sighed, and replied, "Yes, Mother."

A/N: K, not the greatest fic ever, but not the worst. I'm not going on until I get three more reviews, and on that note, I would like to send a shout out to LCM DoePatrounus, my first ever reviewer!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I am so sorry for not updating as soon as I promised! No, wait don't shoot me! It's just that, events including the death of a poor old lady who lived in my tiny little apartment building, my sister moving away, and the return of the ultimate evil (If you are a minor, you know what I am talking about, or school) I have been f*#ing busy! So, piss off.

Disclaimer: "The Nightmare Before Christmas" no es mi propiedad, es la de el genio Tim Burton! Hell yeah, I'm Hispanic. I got the basic idea for the character of Mother partially from the movie "Coraline", so I guess i should give Henry Selick some credit as well.

Chapter 3: Ideas

Lock was worried. Shock was going stark raving mad. Barrel was slipping into depression. A week had gone by living with Mother, all their candy had been confiscated, they spent their days doing mindless chores, merely so Mother could see them suffer, plus, they had obtained so many cuts, scratches, and various other types of wounds, that they began to resemble the corpse family.

In the middle of the night, as Mother slept in her locked room, the three of them lay on the living room floor, bleeding, beaten, and wrapped in the most pathetic sheets sheets that Mother could get her metallic claws on. They were banned from their rooms.

"I can't believe that bitch is making me sleep here." said Barrel in a sulking, weak voice.

"At least you didn't get the smallest sheet moron!" Growled Lock, clutching his tiny scrap of cloth that was pathetically masquerading as a blanket.

"Barrel needs more to cover his fat ass." Offered Shock, in a rather frightening voice for an 11-year old.

Suddenly, Lock sat up. Neither of his cohorts could read his expression. After a while, he said,

"Ok, this is pathetic, what are we doing sleeping on the frickn' floor! "

"Trying to avoid getting pinpricked to death, I guess." said Barrel, sounding rather unsure of himself.

" Exactly! Don't you hear yourself! She's just a walking pile of pins with a bad attitude, and we're the greatest pranksters in all of Halloween Town ! Don't you think we can do better than this! "

Shock and Barrel looked at Lock, then at each other, and were both thinking the same thing, that there was some creepy, random force keeping them feeling half-dead, or, one more half dead than they already were.

" Look," continued Lock, " I didn't spend my entire afterlife beating the un-dead hell out of you two for my damn health. We can beat this lady, one way or another!"

Shock stood up with her arms crossed. "Well, as much as it makes me vomit, you aren't wrong. We're good enough to beat her. Barrel, you in or what bonehead?"

" Huh, alright, fine, it's a good theory." He said indifferently.

"Ok," replied Lock, as his usual toothy, menacing grin grew back on his face for the first time in a week, " Here's what I had in mind..."

A/N: Was originally going to be longer, but I had to get something on here fast. So just remember, Peace, Love, and Cheese. That is all.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Ok, I admit it, I suck at updates. Disclaimer: I don't own jack squat.

Chapter 4: Booby Trapped

"Ok, bear traps?"

"Check"

"Trip wire?"

"Check"

"Shock, you got your ropes ready?"

Shock smiled maliciously. "Check"

"Barrel, your slingshot?"

He looked up, and nodded excitedly.

"Perfect," Lock said, rubbing his hands together and grinning ear to ear. "Let put Operation: Freedom into action."

The three children ducked behind the disgustingly clean sofa. It was the dead of night, Mother was sleeping, and the terrible trio had put their plan into place. "Ok Barrel, ready on my mark." Lock said. Barrel loaded his slingshot and peeked over the sofa.

"Three,"

Barrel stretched the elastic of his weapon.

"Two,"

Shock stuffed the material of her dress into her mouth, to muffle her giggles.

"Fire!"

The large rock sailed through the room at a high speed, and crashed against the needle woman's locked door.

The three trick or treaters huddled behind the sofa, as they heard a door open, a spring clang, and series of bear traps clamp shut. Shock darted out from the sofa, rope in hand, cackling as she bound the mangled woman hand and foot. Lock and Barrel stepped out from their hiding place, laughing and wooping.

At first, Mother simply lay there, looking disoriented, but then, something odd happened. She grew a sinister smile on her face, and fell apart. In a manner of seconds, there was nothing but a large pile of needles and two buttons surrounding the traps.

"So," Barrel asked slowly, "we won?" Suddenly, the needles began to shiver and move. They seemingly came to life, zipping toward Lock.

"Run Lock, run!" Shock screamed, but it was too late. Over fifty needles chased after the terrified devil, digging deep into his pale skin. He gasped and yelled as the needles covered his body, rendering him incapable of running away. The other two children clutched each other in fear.

"Damn it!" The witch screamed.

Later

"Have fun up there children!" Mother yelled at at the trio, as they dangled from ropes tied to Oogie's old lava mixer. Thankfully, the lava had long since dried into cold volcanic rock. "I'll be back when it's time for you to clean again!" She screamed gleefully, before leaving the casino and sealing the only exit.

"Great idea, little Red." Groaned Shock, trying to wiggle out of her bindings. "I'm not in the mood, big nose." Lock replied. "Come on guys, now's not the time to fight, lets just figure out how to get out of this mess." Said Barrel.

After a moment of silence, Shock spoke up. "Fine, you're right. Lock, try your tail." Lock struggled, wiggled, and winced at his fresh wounds. Eventually, he freed his tail. "Alright, lemme try the knots." His tail began working the knots on his wrists. After about ten minutes, his hands were free. "Yes!" He began working the ropes on his ankles, and the ones holding him to the mixer.

"Finally, I'm loose!" He cheered. "Well hurra. It certainly took you long enough, now help us down!" Called Shock from above. Lock sneered and felt his way through the dark casino, before finding the rusty control panel on the south wall. He first pulled the large light switch, activating the black lights through out the room. Then, with a mischievous grin, he then flipped the smaller switch to the right, activating the mixer's spinning blades.

"AAARRCK! Stop this stupid thing Lock!" Screamed Barrel. Shock merely squealed through gritted teeth. "Hahaha! You two know I never turn down a chance to torture you!" He flipped of the switch and lowered the mixer. After all three children were loose, they slumped against a wall together. "We gotta figure out something else. I can't take this crazy woman anymore." Lock sighed. Shock suddenly sat up straight, mouth in a toothy smile. She uttered two words: "Oogie Boogie!"


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: I'm really trying to make the trio seem like the devious little kids they really are, less vulgarity and more goofiness on their part, it just feels less awkward. I might even edit the earlier chapters, what do you guys think? Disclaimer: I don't own any part of this movie. I do own a cookie. Aren't you jealous?

Chapter 5: Shock's Flight

"I'm telling you two, it's a great idea!" Shock squealed to her cohorts, flailing her arms and bouncing on her feet for dramatic effect. Lock arched his eyebrow and gave Shock a cold stare. "And I guess you'll still feel that way when Oogie grinds us into a pulp, for abandoning him all those years ago. Don't you think so Barrel?" He stared down the young skeleton boy with a frightening intensity.

"Yeah, what do _you_ think Barrel?" Sneered Shock with the same threatening tone. Barrel chewed his lip nervously, a bad habit he developed a long time ago, probably due to all the abuse he endured from his older, stronger, meaner friends.

"Well Shock, it's a good idea in theory, but, Lock's kinda right about this. Oogie won't be happy with us."

Shock ground her teeth and growled. "Fine! if you morons are gonna chicken out on my brilliant plan, I don't care! I'll do it myself!" She stomped off to fruitlessly ponder any way to exit the casino.

Shock had developed a plan to best their pointy caretaker. Merely steal a few potions and spell books from the local witches' shop, use it to reanimate their old master, the meanest monster to ever inhabit Halloween Town, and use him as a weapon against Mother. Easy as pie, and those two stupid boys didn't even have the guts to go through with it! Well, she was gonna put her plan into action, alone if she had to.

Lock, sitting on the floor, watched Shock with mild amusement, as she tried to climb the stony casino walls, never ascending more than a foot or two before slipping and tumbling down. A long time went by, and the only thing Shock accomplished was a nasty set of bruises on her knees, elbows, and Lock assumed her butt.

Barrel nervously glanced between the witch and devil. "You know Lock, I think we should talk about this." He whispered. Lock Jerked his head to stare at Barrel. "I thought you were on my side!" He hissed. Barrel scowled. "I'm sick of having to take sides, I wanna have my own side for once!"

"Y-your own side? What in blazes are you talking about?" Lock was getting annoyed. "Hey! I can have good ideas too!" Barrel raised his voice.

"Ha! Maybe in the twilight zone!"

"Shut up!"

"No, you!"

They began a furious fistfight, and Lock eventually pinned Barrel down. Just as Lock was readying a final dominant blow to Barrel's head, a green hand grabbed his fist.

"Ahem..."

Lock and Barrel looked up from their hissy fit, to see Shock towering over them, looking disheveled. She took a deep breath, and faced Lock. "You, my friend, are an insolent fool." she turned to face Barrel. "Do you actually _have_ an idea?" Barrel smiled and nodded his head. Shock arched an eyebrow. She was clearly not expecting that. "A good one?" Barrel nodded again. Shock blinked and rubbed her eyes, thinking things over. After a few moments, she seemed to make up her mind, so she pushed Lock off of Barrel with a shove, and helped the badly sore skeleton boy to his feet. "Alright short-bus, what's on your mind?" Barrel beamed, and didn't wast any time in explaining his master plan.

After listening to Barrel's plan, Shock understood why Lock usually chose to ignore him. "So lemme get this straight," She said, staring Barrel coldly in the eye, "you want me, to get on the mixer, have you spin it around, and somehow manage to jump off and fly through that window," She pointed to a ridiculously small window about a story up, which was leading out of the casino, "without killing myself?" Barrel beamed and nodded, clearly proud of himself. Shock scowled and nearly slapped him across the face. However, she decided against it, and just yelled, "You're a maniac!" Barrel made a face. "Aw come on! All you have to do is jump!" He suddenly smirked mischievously. "What are ya, scared?" Shock tensed up, her eyes widened, and her fists clenched. That "slap him across the face" option was looking very tempting to her. Lock laughed. "Yeah Shock, you don't have to do it, if you're chicken!" Barrel laughed too. "Don't be so hard on her Lock, after all, you can't expect her to have guts, she is just a girl!" Shock was trembling with rage at this point. He had struck a nerve, and struck it hard. She screamed out, "Fine! I'll show you morons! Lock, lower the stupid mixer!" Lock dashed over to the controls, lowering said stupid mixer. She hopped onto one of the blades, ready to prove how much guts she really had. Lock activated the blades on a slower speed, because the last thing he needed was to be blamed for Shock being splattered all over the wall.

The G-force Shock was feeling was overwhelming, and she was starting to feel frightened, a feeling that was unfamiliar to her. She was fighting the urge to scream, refusing to look like a fool in front of the boys. She took some deep breaths, and centered herself. She started inching towards the tip of the blade. Down on the ground Lock and Barrel looked on, and even though they would not admit it to Shock, or even each other for that matter, they were genuinely concerned for Shock's well-being. Most residents of Halloween Town thought that Lock Shock and Barrel hated each other, and merely stuck together for the sake of continuing the trouble they caused. In truth, at the core of all the hatefulness, teasing and violence, the three of them were as close as could be. It their own twisted, sick, bastardized way, they loved each other. The best part of it all, their bond was so strong that their feelings were a given, meaning they could torture each other to damn near their breaking point, never showing even a hint of tenderness, yet the bond stayed strong.

Shock was working on her timing, trying to calculate the best time to jump. She was pretty sure she had it figured out. She waited until the blade was about half way between parallel to the wall and pointing at it, and jumped.

She sailed through the air, arms outstretched, screaming through gritted teeth. Luckily enough, her arms actually went through the window, who's bars had been bashed out by the trio long ago, so as to provide easy access to the casino from their cage elevator. Un-luckily enough, only her arms went through, and she slid backwards into the casino again, holding onto the the window ledge with only her hands. For those of you who don't know what it's like to hang from a thin ledge for too long, know that her hands became very sore, very quickly. Regardless, she breathed a sigh of relief. The hard part was over, now all she had to do was claw her way up and out. Down below, Lock and Barrel were staring at Shock, ready to catch her should she lose her grip. She slowly pulled herself out, digging her nails into the outer wall of the casino, and finally, was able to put a leg over the ledge. She sat, straddling the ledge, rubbing her hands together to relieve soreness. Next she had to get onto the cage that hung directly outside the window. Holding the ledge with one hand and reaching out with another, she grabbed ahold, and with one quick movement, jumped into the cage. The charm they had put on the cage activated, and the thing lurched upwards. She giggled giddily and smiled to herself, proud of her accomplishment. She thought over all the things she would need to find.


End file.
